The present invention is a stabilizer ring for a sea anchor, in particular a parachute sea anchor.
Generally, a sea anchor is an object towed by a vessel to keep the bow of the vessel headed into surf or heavy sea or merely to reduce the drift of the vessel. A sea anchor is not generally designed to anchor to the bottom of a body of water and hold fast as a conventional anchor operates. A number of sea anchors, boat drags and/or drogues are known including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,134,355, 3,417,725, 4,481,900, 4,562,788, 4,632,051, 4,637,330, 4,653,219, 4,969,413, 5,016,556, 5,025,746, 5,241,922, and 5,463,971. The most common sea anchors are cone shaped and parachute-shaped canopies made of cloth or canvas. The canopies are usually attached by a plurality of shroud lines to a single line or chain that is in turn attached to the vessel deploying the sea anchor.
Several common problems can occur with prior art sea anchors, in particular during heavy weather or rough seas. These problems can include fouled shroud lines, collapsed canopies, shroud line chafing and general difficulty in deploying the sea anchor. Thus, a stabilizer is needed that will reduce or eliminate these common sea anchor problems.
The present invention is a stabilizer ring for a sea anchor, in particular a parachute sea anchor. The preferred embodiment of the stabilizer ring comprises a ring supporting a domed arch. The domed arch has two arch supports that divide the ring into a plurality of sections. Each arch support has a vertex and the two arch supports are connected at their vertices. The domed arch is pivotally connected to a swivel. The swivel has two loops pivotally connected by a bolt.